Smashing 10 records at his school gala may be the perfect preparation for Graeme College learner Joshua Pamphilon, who in the same week qualified to compete against South Africa’s top swimmers in the Senior Nationals.
Joshua and under-12 swimmer Christopher Maclean dominated the school’s inter-house gala recently. Joshua won all 12 individual Open events in this year’s inter-house gala, and also received the trophy for most advanced senior swimmer.
He broke the record in 10 of those events this year (including breaking his own record in five of them). The two records he did not break this year (Open 100m backstroke and Open 50m backstroke) were records he broke last year, which means he now holds the school record in all 12 individual Open events. Joshua is team captain of Vernal House, which won overall.
Last Saturday at the Infinity Gala in Port Elizabeth he qualified for Senior Nationals by taking 2.21 seconds off his time for the 100m Butterfly. Senior Nationals is the top swimming competition within South Africa (the next level is Commonwealth Games).
Under-12 swimmer Chris Maclean likewise made a clean sweep of his division at the school gala. He also achieved good results in the last edition of the highly competitive inter-schools “B” League Gala: 50, Backstroke – 5th; 50m Breaststroke – 8th; 50m Freestyle – 4th.
